Retro WON: The Hunting Lodge – Cabin or Estate Inspired Décor

Rita Schimpff walks us through several ideas for creating a hunting lodge look in a cabin or estate. Discover the inspired décor that works for your place.

 

Hunting lodges can be as simple as a log cabin or as grand as a European estate, but they all have one thing in common – shelter for the hunter. And that shelter décor can range from rustic to Old World elegance.

And what huntress does not like a little inspiration to bring the lodge look into her own home? “Bringing the Wild Inside” will be exploring the inspiration for hunting and fishing lodges in the next several installments here at The WON.

Pictured above is an individual rustic cabin, situated at 10,500 feet at the private Brazos River Ranch in New Mexico. This year the ranch will complete a huge new lodge to update this secluded facility as an elk and trout destination.

 

This grand lodge at Longleaf Plantation is a gorgeous and serene spot in Mississippi  — a place to shoot quail or fish for bluegill and all the while, enjoy the sporting décor that I think even Ralph Lauren would relish.

 

 

Two looks – one on the left from a southern Colorado lodge and the one on the right from a simple small cabin – both use original art, rustic woods, leather and quirky old memorabilia to add visual interest, set the theme and make the hunter feel at home. The 3 old relics – the alarm clock, rotary phone and blue cracker box add color and make for an interesting vignette, while adding a bit of nostalgia and comfort at the same time.

 

 

Hunting lodge décor should always be comfortable and welcoming, and can be easily accomplished by including taxidermy and items of a hunting nature. Comfy furniture and rich colors also add warmth and welcome to the décor. I am a huge fan of warm reds and earthy greens in the lodge palette.

If you look closely at the upper left photo, you will notice how Longleaf Plantation effectively mixed several types of wood as paneling and trim with the large planked wood floor – even the wainscot below the chair rail is skinned bark! The photo on the right adds comfortable seating in a colorful Indian print to complement the slate floors and framed Indian arrowheads.

 

 

In this photo, a turkey red and cool green accent paint are used throughout the small cabin to add a bit of punch to all the rustic collectibles. Taxidermy again becomes art.

 

These once disposable old paper shooting targets also become art. The targets mix handsomely with taxidermy to make an interesting grouping, with either classical pieces or more homey ones within a more rustic collection of art and hunting memorabilia.

These replica German shooting targets come with an interesting history printed on the back and are handmade by www.HeritageGameMounts.com to be either be hung on the wall or displayed on a table easel. The colorful targets sell for $35 for a 6-¾-inch small and $45 for the 8-½-inch large.

 

 

The 1^st World Shooting Championships were held in 1897; these colorful old targets were patented in Germany in the same year. The world championships were, no doubt, a carryover from the popular 1896 Olympics that featured 5 shooting events in Kallithea, Greece. The original oversized chromolithographed sheets featured 2 sizes of 6 European animals as targets: boar, bear and hare are along with a roe, chamois and stag. Add a few in your home!

Fröhlich Schütze Style!

Want to see more ideas? Visit Heritage Game Mounts.

This Retro Won “The Hunting Lodge – Cabin or Estate Inspired Décor” first appeared February 19, 2015.

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  About Rita Schimpff

  Rita Schimpff is an artist and designer who grew up hunting, fishing and enjoying outdoor life in Oklahoma and Texas, thus developing an early love and respect for wildlife and their habitat. She has carried this love to her art and her long involvement with many local and national conservation associations. As a member of the first Junior League San Antonio Mitchell Lake Wetlands Project, she created its logo and illustrated Mitchell Lake Wildlife Refuge: an Illustrated History. A graduate of Texas Christian University with a BFA in Commercial Art and Textile Design, Rita retired after more than 30 years in an interior design field. She launched her Texas based company, Heritage Game Mounts. She creates elegant, Old-World-inspired panels to display domestic and exotic game. She pens a blog called “Bring The Wild Inside” at the site, and at The WON, that offers ways to bring beauty and balance to the shared hunter/non-hunter home. Rita and her husband, Skip, have made hunting and fishing a large priority with their children. Along with two Boykin Spaniels and numerous adopted rescues, all aspects of hunting are very much a family affair. All of Heritage Game Mounts’ products are American made. View all posts by Rita Schimpff →